


Once Broken, Twice Bent

by whatchamajig



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gen, Past Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-08
Updated: 2017-09-08
Packaged: 2018-12-25 06:38:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12030270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatchamajig/pseuds/whatchamajig
Summary: As it turns out Starscream and Rodimus have a lot in common. A lot being a single person in their lives.





	Once Broken, Twice Bent

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Synodic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Synodic/gifts).
  * Inspired by [this](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/321708) by CosmicDanger. 



> Inspired by CosmicDanger's Starscream & Rodimus comic! It's beautiful!

The white halls of the spaceport are a stark contrast to the walls of the _Nemesis_ , burning Starscream’s optics even after all this time. Mechs of all sorts moved out of the way as he stalked down the halls as they mistook his glares as being aimed at them rather than the offending walls. _Good_ , he thinks as a pair of ground mechs flatten themselves against the wall to avoid him, _they’re smart to be afraid_. A tingle runs up his spinal struts and he knows that Bumblebee will be standing among the crowd leveling him with a disapproving stare at his thoughts. _Not a hallucination my aft_. 

Stopping to turn to snarl at the Autobot, Starscream pauses as voices echo from around the corner. Whoever they are they are loud enough to be heard above the noise of the crowd but soft enough that he can’t make out what they’re saying. For a moment he thinks that maybe his hallucinations have finally lapsed into something more and he’s willing to walk away until a flight-frame paces by the corridor and her wings snapback in surprise at whatever she saw. Deciding that whoever it was on the other side of the wall was worth investigating he steps forward, shoulder-checking the femme out of the way to better see. Later in the comfort of his apartment he’ll tell Bumblebee that he wished he hadn’t. 

Rodimus and Megatron stand at the end of the hallway leading to the _Lost Light_. The former Decepticon has his co-captain backed against the wall, finger against his chest and irritation written plainly on his face. Rodimus stands there passively, head tilted down and optics elsewhere as he listens. This is not the Rodimus Starscream has come to know, not by a long shot.

“Making a fool of yourself in front of a crew who already knows how childish you can be is one thing,” Megatron snarls as he presses himself closer to the smaller mech, “But is it really so unreasonable to expect you to behave here on Cybertron?” 

Starscream feels his stomach pumps turn angrily and briefly he’s not standing in the spaceport; he’s back on the _Nemesis_ , the cold walls of the ship digging into his back as the heat from Megatron’s body traps him from the front. Megatron has a digit digging into his chassis and his free servo is wrapped around his wrist to keep him grounded, gripping hard enough to leave dents. The hallway is dark save for the red glare from Megatron’s optics and that is what Starscream remembers most from this encounter.

_“Am I being unreasonable in asking you to act with a little dignity? Am I, Starscream? Is it-”_

“-Rodimus?” Rodimus’ fans kick on then as he finally squares his shoulders and looks Megatron in the eye. Even from here Starscream can see the defiance and smart comeback on Rodimus’ glossa and he didn’t survive millions of years around Megatron by not being able to anticipate the larger mech’s reactions to such actions. Rodimus will say what he will say and Megatron will react as he has always reacted: swift and brutal domination. _Let this play out_ , he tells himself as his pedes take him closer seemingly on their own accord, _let the oaf make a scene and you can have him arrested and you can all finally be free of him_. A familiar sensation runs up his arm as his processor subconsciously tries to online his weapons system before he shuts it down. 

“I-”

“Ah! There you are.” Starscream sounds loud and overly friendly even to his own audials but he gets what he wanted: Both Rodimus and Megatron turn their attention to him as he struts towards them. Starscream trills out a greeting in Vosian as he steps closer and he absolutely does not relish in the way Megatron’s lips curl in a snarl. “You didn’t show for our appointment! I had begun to wonder if you’d gotten lost. I see you’ve just been… waylaid.”

As best he can Starscream wedges himself between the other two mechs, taking care to wrap a hand around Rodimus’ shoulders to drag him close and angle them so that Starscream stands between him and Megatron. Warnings flash in bright red across his HUD, internal systems trying to start up or shut down depending on their function as he sneers up at Megatron and it takes more willpower than he will ever admit to get his own body to listen to him. 

“And now that I’ve found you we really should be getting along. Unless, of course, you still need him for something?”

If this had been before, Rodimus would have been forgotten in that instant. Megatron would have diverted all his anger into putting Starscream through the wall across the hallway, bellowing insults as he followed after the seeker. He would have crushed his wings or ripped out his vocalizer or any damage that would put him in the medical bay for the next cycle. Rodimus would have been dealt with eventually but for the time it would have been Megatron and Starscream. Just like it had always been. He can see in Megatron’s optics as his processor goes through the motions, urging to put his former SIC in his place before reminding him that that time was long past. For a moment Starscream debates goading him on farther in hopes that he will hit, just so he can show everyone how wrong they were about Megatron, how a few deca-cycles on a ship away from civilization would not change the tyrant back into the mech he was at the start of the war. Instead it passes when Megatron rumbles to have Rodimus back by tomorrow and Starscream swings them around on his heel.

“Keep walking and don’t look back.” He grips Rodimus’ shoulders tightly when he feels the mech try to do just that. _Stubborn glitch_.

“Look, I can be stupid but I’m not that forgetful. We definitely didn’t have plans.” Rodimus eyes him wearily but follows nonetheless when Starscream directs him down another hallway. So trusting despite his outwards appearance, it’s not a wonder Megatron acted like he did. Still Rodimus keeps his head held high as they walk. “Starscream, I-”

“We’ll talk once we’re somewhere private.” His apartment is close to the spaceport, a decision many had questioned him about. Most assumed it had something to do with power; being close to the port meant being able to watch who came in and out with ease, something he couldn’t do from deeper within the city. Only Bumblebee had been able to make the connection between the spaceport and paranoia fueled need to escape should something go wrong. And it would, in time. There are few things Starscream is wrong about and the inevitable failure of a situation is not one of them.

For the most part Rodimus follows along, occasionally needing to be reigned in when distracted by mech or a particularly shiny item. As they reach the apartment building he slows down enough that Starscream has to do the same or risk losing him. Once outside his apartment Rodimus seems to regain his composure and he crosses his arms, giving the door a look through hooded optics.

“I’m just saying, if this is part of a power game between you two, I want out.”

“Oh, just get in, would you?” He must have said it harsher than intended because Rodimus’ fenders hitch slightly before he tosses his nose in the air and steps inside. The door shuts behind them and with a deafening click they are locked inside. Starscream doesn’t bother turning on the lights, the lights from the city allowing the both of them to see with relative ease. He leaves Rodimus to look around the apartment as he steps up to the window; the city spans out for miles below and even from this height he can see its citizens going about their lives.

“Nice digs,” Rodimus says as he steps up beside Starscream.

“The only kind I deserve.”

“Right…” In the reflection of the window Rodimus rolls his eyes. “What was it that you wanted to talk about?”

_That’s the million credit question_ , Starscream thinks, staring out the window still. He hadn’t had a plan when he had grabbed Rodimus away from Megatron, only thinking to put as much distance between them and Megatron as physically possible without causing suspicion. That had always been his plan should he encounter Megatron again: do what he had to and leave before the the other could put him in a situation that he could not escape from. Not.. _Not see myself in a mech I’ve hardly ever talked to_.

“We have a lot in common, you and I.”

“Uh-huh.” He doesn’t have to see Rodimus to know that the other mech is humoring him, small smile playing on his lips as he waits for the offer to join Starscream that he thinks is coming. As if Starscream would give any of his power to the other. 

"You aren’t responsible for his actions. You deserve neither his ridicule, nor his anger.” His words shock Rodimus, either unexpectedness of them or the bluntness, Starscream isn’t sure. The red mech turns to look at him with wide optics, searching his face for some sort of sign that he’s being taunted somehow. Either he thinks he finds whatever it is that he’s looking for or he makes one up and his fans kick on as he warms with embarrassment. Standing beside him Starscream can feel it as he heats up.

“We haven’t said two words to each other, what would you know?!” It is entirely possible that he’s misread their relationship, that Starscream had stepped into something that he shouldn’t have and would soon have the ire of both captains. It also possible that the people of Cybertron will come to trust him completely and with absolutely loyalty. He’d be willing to bet on the latter. Inhaling sharply he places his bet.

“I know that despite my failings, I didn’t deserve half of the things he did to me. I know that, like you, I didn’t have anyone to tell me that he wasn’t right. At the time all I knew was him.”

“Above all else he craves control, and what he cannot control, he conquerors.” Starscream pauses to let out of breathless laugh. “Megatron is accustomed to fawning masses and obedient soldiers. Your defiance and boundless charisma poses a unique threat to him; that your crew follows you, that they boarded in spite of him rather than because of him…” 

Starscream lets his words hang in the air. His processor pulls memory after memory from his memory banks and he wants desperately to find one to share with Rodimus, one that the other can relate to and that won’t tear down the fragile bridge he’s already started to build. He wants to talk, he realizes, about everything; he wants to sit down with someone who isn’t Bumblebee or a jury and talk about it all, good and bad. He wants this moment before Megatron swoops in and steals it away. 

“Starscream…”

“What he does to you is not due to a deficiency of your character. It is, ultimately, and always, about him. To have weathered the escalating abuse with sacrificing your spirit, without turning into…” Without turning into me, “You must be quite remarkable indeed.”

At some point Rodimus had started to cry, optical fluid dripping down his faces and lips quivering as he tries to hold back the sobs. Idly Starscream wonders if this would have been him if he had left the Decepticons the first time he thought about it. There would have been no one else who had experienced what he had but surely, surely there would have been someone who would have told him at the time that he was not to blame for Megatron’s actions. His thoughts are broken as Rodimus places his servo on his face, shoulders shaking.

“That uh… that was the last thing I expected when I walked in here.” Reaching out Starscream places a servo on Rodimus’ shoulder, feeling the shakes from the other mech hitch and start again with a passion.

“Just remember Rodimus, you are not alone in this.” For a moment Starscream is sure that he’s lost the other to his own memories when he doesn’t respond, and then, like a light in the dark, Starscream hears it.

“Thank you.” It’s coupled with a servo coming up to brace his own.

He’s never been good at helping other people, but if this is what comes of it Starscream thinks he could do it more often.

**Author's Note:**

> find me at whatchamajig.tumblr.com or @whatchatmajig13 on twitter


End file.
